Wahlberg swaggering into solo role

Hollywood hunk Mark Wahlberg says that at the age of 35, he thinks he is just getting into his stride as an actor.

He told me on a visit to London: “When I was younger I had so little confidence in myself I wasn’t sure that I would even reach that age.”

But he is now celebrating his first solo starring role in the action thriller Shooter in which he plays a former Marine marksman, who finds himself the main suspect in a plot to assassinate a president.

In real life, Mark has no enthusiasm for guns.

“But I knew that for this role I had to give at least the impression I could handle them. Having accomplished that, the rest was comparatively easy.”

His character, Bob Lee Swagger, was created by novelist Stephen Hunter, and he figures in a series of novels, which suggest at least the possibility of a big-screen “Swagger franchise”.

But Mark has been in the business long enough to be wary about that.

He said: “I would certainly be happy to return to the character, but the only reason to do a sequel is to try to improve on the original.

“And that doesn’t happen too often!”

Despite Mark’s own reservations about his career, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura had no doubts about his potential.

He said: “When I first saw him on screen I was sure he could be a star.”

Mark’s first big break was in the film Boogie Nights, he then did two pictures with George Clooney and a remake of the 1960’s Brit classic, The Italian Job.

But it was his impressive performance as a vicious cop in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning The Departed which marked him out for the bigtime.

Mark is a great fan of TV’s Little Britain.

He said: “I just hope they don’t try and do an American version, because I think it’s unique.”